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Portland boil water alert: Live blog of press conference

Portland Water Bureau issues boil water alert

Mount Tabor Reservoir is shown here on Friday morning after the Portland Water Bureau issued a city-wide boil notice after water staffers detected E. coli in three separate tests during the past three days.
(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

We will be live blogging from the press conference at Portland's Emergency Coordination Center about the boil-water alert issued Friday to customers of the Portland Water Bureau.

City Commissioner Nick Fish, Portland Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff, Water Bureau Incident Commander Chris Wanner, Water Bureau spokeswoman Jaymee Cuti, and Interim Tri-County Health Officer Paul Lewis are among those expected to speak. The press conference is scheduled to begin at 12 noon.

12:01: Nick Fish: Mayor has been fully briefed. He has called Gov. Kitzhaber.

Advising people to boil for at least one minute any water they are going to drink, brush teeth or use for ice.

"Public health is our top priority."

12:02: David Shaff: Potential bacterial contamination has been detected in the Portland drinking water system. Urges people to consult www.portlandoregon.gov/water/boilwaternotice To find detailed maps of affected area and the list of those affected customers.

Next results available Satruday morning and will let people know if the boil-water notice can be lifted.

"We're moving quickly to learn as much as possible."

12:05: Paul Lewis: We've been working closely with the city, the last couple of days. "We think overall this is a very cautious approach that we're taking."

"We think the risk to the public is very low." Notes the results received, plus the amount of chlorine in water leads them to believe the risk is low.

12:07: The E. coli found is not the same as other E. coli that is found in hamburgers and sprouts. He said it is simply a marker of some other fecal animal contamination.

12:08 Shaff: Conducting additional water testing throughout area.

Water bureau flushing area to get rid of contaminated area.

Checking for sources of contamination.

"We may never discover the actual cause of contamination."

Question: Why only hearing about this now?

Shaff: There is a very proscribed process for water quality sampling.

Says a routine sample from Reservoir #1 on Tuesday came back positive for E. coli sampling.

Then take subsequent samples. Upstream, downstream and at same site.

Another routine sample from Reservoir 5 came back with E. coli. As well as a third sample.

Other samples, however, are coming back clean.

With these three incidents right after another, the state has required the boil-water alert.

12:12: Question - Why did website crash?

Shaff: Notes social media impact and says they are staffing all our phones. People should be able to look up their address and determine whether or not in boil-water notice.

12:13 Question. Know about this before the election?

Shaff: No. Routine sample taken on Tuesday. Those samples come back the following morning. A relatively routine process.

Fish: Our primary concern is public health. The reality is this is a heavily regulated area of our water quality and we have specific guidelines we follow working with bodies that regulate with us, We have virutally no discretion when it comes to these kinds of tests... We err on the side of public health."

12:15 Question: Should reservoirs covered?

Shaff: Not here to make statements about whether should or should not be covered.

When source of contamination is discovered, it may show why federal agencies call for covering reservoirs.

12:17: Question: Water bureau did not make decision?

Shaff: I said we were directed to by the state... Because there were three incidents, all one right after the other that detected a fecal contamination in the water.

We've had three positive samples out of 40 or 50 samples the last couple days come back positive. The state has a protocol... In this case, they said you will do a boil water notice.

12:21 Is this the largest boil-water notice we've had?

Shaff: Yes. Previous have been westside.

12:23: Shaff: "Our history is that this is usually a one-day, transient event. I have every expectation that we will declare an all-clear tomorrow. We were expecting to do that this morning. We were expecting to do that yesterday."